Abstract

Tzvetan Todorov has emerged as a major thinker in humanities and social sciences over forty years. Todorov coined the term ‘narratology’ in 1969 for the scientific study of narrative. His early studies were exclusively about the theoretical dimensions of literature and narrative. In his book Genres in Discourse (1990), Todorov included an essay “The Origin of Genres” that aimed to point out different aspects of genres. Todorov begins this essay with a notion prevalent among most of the modern literary theorists.  In the essay he insists that genres are neither static nor fixed but dynamic and ever changing. According to Todorov genres are the meeting place between general poetics and event -based literary history; as such, they constitute a privileged object that may well deserve to be the principal figure in literary studies. This way he outlines his strategy for constructing a theory of genres. He insists that this will be rooted in the particular genres, and will lead us towards a generalized concept of each genre. Todorov strictly follows the analytical procedure of Aristotle in his Poetics. Aristotle had taken up the genre of tragedy, identified its distinctive characteristics, while at the same time discussing philosophical concepts like ‘mimesis’ and ‘catharsis’.

Key words: Tzvetan , Todorov’s Concepts, narratology, genre, Poetics